One gamer's journey through the wide world of games and gaming culture.

The countdown to my next RPG lovefest is slowly ticking away (anything that comes after my Jan. birthday is too far away for my liking) I am (like the fan girl we know I am) keeping up on all the pre-release tidbits that are coming out. Enter Stage Right! (if you get that reference you get a hug) Gamespot’s behind the scenes look at the making of game. Peruse down the comments and you get the normal mishmash of complaints about the game, but a lot of the are easily dispeled and I’m in a mood to cast “Dispel”

Hawke is a guy. Yes Bioware’s default Hawke is a guy. This is the norm for promo/canon character. Past experience says you can play a girl. Bioware themselves prove there is a female Hawke, take a gander here. The female Hawke comes from Bioware during this year’s PAX.

My DragonAge: Origins character isn’t transfering over. Yes you are right. The name sort of gives this away. DragonAge 1 isn’t named that, it is named DragonAge: Origins. This is the arching story of the Age of Dragons. There is more than one story to tell here. This one really leads into the third.

My choices in Origins won’t be reflected in 2. Luckily for us all this is wrong. My forum loving ways include for you the official Bioware Lead Designer David Laidlaw’s response to this. I don’t require more than the Lead Designer’s word that the choices will be reflected in the game. I’m good. Are you good?

We won’t be able to customize our characters. Well this is a mixed bag. No, you can’t be an elf or dwarf. No, you will not be able to pick a different origin story. (Psst Hawke is a refuge from Lothering) You are indeed stuck as a human. But appearance customization has been a hallmark of Bioware’s most successful games and while I couldn’t find a post explicitly stating we can change our hair,eye,face, etc I’d be down right shocked if not.

Some of these complaints are long time RPG complaints that come around over and over. Look at Neverwinter Nights, people were up in arms about Shadows of Underintide, because you started over at level 1 and people wanted a continuation of their characters from the Official Campaign. People love the characters they’ve invested hours upon hours playing and are reluctant to give them up. It is a clear sign that the story is deeply engaging. We’ve come to care about the life of our character and wish to see it to the end. Dragon Age isn’t about one singular character however. It is about telling the story of Thedas (the name of the world Dragon Age is set in) during the Age of Dragons.

No, this isn’t just my inner Bioware Fan Girl speaking. Video games are like any other media, actually I find them an interesting mix of book and movie. The longer game play allows for complex character development but the graphical nature of video games allows for more immersion as in movies. Like both mediums people become attached to characters and are reluctant to let them go. But like both mediums sometimes you have to move beyond the original cast to further the story. Ultimately it is about the story being told.